Reynolds Patrick McGuire!

Two weeks ago today we welcomed this little guy into our lives...

Reynolds Patrick McGuire

September 8, 2014
1:25pm
9lbs, 4oz & 21 inches

And it is hard to believe that it has already been 2 weeks. It has all been somewhat of a blur of sleepiness and sweetness. So before I forget all the details, here is your birth story Reynolds.

We once again decided to be induced like we did with Teagan. I really wanted my doctor to be the one to deliver me, but this time for some reason had a little bit more hestiancy with choosing induction. I think part of it was the stigma that comes with inductions {i.e. afraid people would judge me...but then I realized people get judged when they go all natural too, so I decided to let that one go}, part was wondering if it would really go as smoothly as Teagan's did {and that was put to ease by both of my sisters who are/were in the field and my doctor assuring me that if it went well the first time, they had no doubts it would go well this time}, which left me with my third reason of not being sure-and that was simply curiosity on when he would choose to make his arrival. But the benefits of induction with  a two year old and both families out of town were seeming to outweigh my curiosity...so we decided induction it was.

I was going to do whatever I could on my part to help that induction along though. So on Saturday night we went on a family date to Scalini's for their famous eggplant parm. There are over 300 "eggplant babies" that have been born within 48 hours of having this meal.

Scalini's date

On Sunday morning we went for a last family of 3 breakfast to Flying Biscuit and then went for an awesome, long walk after before family started arriving.

I called to check to see when they wanted me to arrive on Sunday night and they told me 5pm {insert slight panic as I wasn't expecting until much later in the evening and hoping to get another bedtime in with Teagan before we had to leave}. So we quickly showered after our long walk and started prepping to leave for the hospital. I noticed I was having several contractions before we left for the hospital, starting around 4:45 or so. I didn't bother timing them, knowing that I was already headed in but I did recognize they were somewhat close together. And on our 10 minute ride to the hospital, I had 3.

Leaving for the hospital! 

Last big sister belly kiss! 

We got checked in to the room and they hooked me up to the monitors while the nurse had to ask me the 100+ questions upon checking in. She finally looked over at me and said, "Umm...are you feeling these?!?" They were about every 2-4 minutes apart, and I was 2cm dilated.  After she finished checking me in, she told me she thought I was already in early labor. YAYY! That was perfect news and an answer to prayer.

They gave me half a bag of fluid and while my contractions stayed pretty consistent at 2-4 minutes apart until 11:30pm, they did end up slowing down some through the night to about every 6-8 minutes. I accepted the offer for some Ambien, but I was still up every hour tossing and turning. By 6am, I was 2-3cm and they started the pitocin at 6:40 in the morning--but at this point it wasn't considered part of an induction because labor had started on its own.

At 10:00 my doctor came in and gave me the option to get an epidural first {umm, because epidural for me was a given} or my water broken first. I wasn't in enough pain to feel like I really needed the epidural right away, but taking my sister's advice from her experience opted to go ahead and get the epidural first.

I got the epidural at 10:30am, and it was a breeze! The anesthesiologist was awesome! Although I later started feeling contractions, it wasn't anything unbearable and so I opted to keep the epidural on the lowest setting that they started me on. At 10:50am Dr Graham came in and broke my water. I was 3cm at this point.

The after epidural, you must lay on your side for every picture-picture. 

Boyntons, minus dad

The McGuires 

By 12:50ish I started feeling a lot of pressure. When I told the nurse, her response was "ohhh good." I'm thinking in my head, "umm...I thought I was supposed to let you know this because it could mean things are progressing. Can I get a little more than an extra calm, oh good?!?"

I'm pretty sure Patrick snapped this picture during one of my super "I'm feeling the pressure" moments...and apparently I found his deciding to take a picture of it humorous enough to smile. 

By 1:00, Patrick quickly sent his family out of the room because I was really feeling the pressure. Like holding on to the side of the bed and hoping a baby wasn't just going to come out. Patrick at this point is panicking telling me "CALL THE NURSE!" My thought was, "nooo, Dr. Graham was supposed to come in at 1:00 to check me again. He'll be here soon." Well by 1:05, I was calling the nurse again because the pressure was not stopping. She told me that my doctor was on his way-and I remember thinking "I hope she means on the way from down the hall and not on the way from lunch...I'm not sure if I'll make it if it's the latter." When they didn't come in in the next 3 minutes, Patrick went into the hallway and said, "Someone needs to get in here now!" {insert even more dad panic}. People came in at 1:10 to prep the room for delivery and soon after Dr. Graham peeks his head in and says, "What did I tell you about how fast the second ones are?!"

He checks me at 1:15 and tells me that I'm complete and removes the catheter to which he said was the only thing actually holding him in. Lovely.

Somewhere between 1:15 and 1:20, I started to push. This time was much different than with Teagan. Because I hadn't upped the dose on the epidural, I was aware of everything that was happening {notice I didn't say I could feel everything, I realize the epidural was doing something for me}. With Teagan, I couldn't even tell where my legs were and if my pushing was doing anything. This time, I could feel the intensity of my pushing and of little man's arriving.

Side note, during this 5-10 minutes of pushing Patrick got a little faint. Dr. Graham looked up and asked him if he was alright. Patrick said he thought he should probably sit in a chair and the nurses began to bring him cold wash cloths. There was part of me that laughed a little at this because it has always been a joke that things would happen that way, but the other part was thinking "umm...if someone does not pay attention to the fact that another contraction is currently coming and I need to push again I might scream!" ;) He was up again in a few minutes in time to be able to cut the cord.

And by 1:25, I was holding pure preciousness in my arms.

And just like that, our hearts grew and we fell in love all over again. We love you so much already Reynolds!

I'll try to post again soon to recap the rest of our hospital stay and our first 2 weeks with this handsome little man.